Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01 Today, we'll pick up again on that series of sermons on marriage. I'm sorry that we've heard all what we're going to say today before this past year on the feast of the Holy family, but it bears repeating since I tend to use this sermon as a point of reference for the following sermons. And last time we went through was close enough to remember it some of the too long ago to keep the ideas fresh in everyone's memory. Okay. So this morning we're going to take a few minutes to meditate on the meaning of a few aspects of the traditional wedding ceremony, the wedding mass. So it's a review. We'll start by reviewing why it is that at a wedding, the couple exchanges, the violence right there at the edge of the sanctuary and then after they're married, the newlyweds come up to hear mass. They hear mass in the sanctuary.
Speaker 0 00:45 That's not the ordinary place as we know, uh, to hear mass is, is in the sanctuary. So what does it mean? What is the church teaching us here? These, these ceremonies come to us from the pastas and the saints. What is it? Is it that the church is intending to teach us here? Okay. In order to appreciate the answer, we have to back up again and quickly review stuff we've all heard before about the relationship between the garden of Eden, the temple in Jerusalem, and the Catholic liturgy. So this is another step back. Remember that everything in our Holy religion is related in some way to the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden was a very threshold of heaven and it's the perfect model of the conditions in which man can safely encounter God. For example, we see that holiness is determined by the degree to which something has been set aside for and dedicated to God.
Speaker 0 01:39 For example, a Sabbath is more Holy than other days a week. It's been set aside for God. The sanctuary of the garden is holier than outside course. There's no comparison to Adam's holiness between Adam's holdings before he fell and then afterwards we see a basic pattern. When we look at the garden, Adam was given the command to keep and guard this first sanctuary on earth, the garden of Eden. He did so vague and he and all his descendants were driven out. The entrance to Eden was closed. It was veiled. It was covered. Okay. God placed cherubim and a flaming sword that was turning every which way to keep anyone from entering the garden, the garden, and approaching the tree of life. The basic principle here is that the closer that man approaches the unutterably Holy presence of God, the closer man approach is to the almighty God.
Speaker 0 02:33 The more his accountability increases on the stricter his punishments become for any infractions. We see the basic temptation, the idea of self determination. I'll do what I want the lie the serpent was that man could become as God, okay, deciding what was good and evil, but in spite of these lies of the devil, man remains a creature as a Cree trees bound to obey the law of his creator. In other words, he's bound to do what God wants and man can only have a true relationship with God by carefully keeping that divine law, the divine law that comes from God, not from our own big ideas. Now let's hold those thoughts and turn to the temple quickly. The most sacred area in the temple, as we've seen before, it was called the Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the covenant.
Speaker 0 03:27 I remember the arc of the covenant was his gold covered box, and in this box with 10 commandments to Jara Amana, that's the bread that fell from heaven to have this golden lid with two cherubim on top of it and over that golden lid with the two chair. But in the glory cloud of the Lord would come down and appear. That was the old Testament equivalent of the real presence. The Holy of Holies was covered with this massive veil and on the front of the veil were embroidered cherubim. Why? Because it was symbolic garden of Eden. Why was it a symbolic garden of Eden? Because that's where the glory cloud of the Lord, the presence of God dwelt on earth. But since the fall, man was no longer permitted to dwell in the presence of God, which is why this Holy of Holies, the liturgical garden of Eden was veiled, it was closed.
Speaker 0 04:19 And the cherubim on the Vail. Symbolically guard the entrance to the Holy of Holies, just like the chairman who guarded the entrance to the garden of Eden, reminding everyone, even the priest, there's no longer any access to this intimate presence of God. The only exception was a high priest. You go in once per year. There's no access at all to the inside of the arch, to the manna, this bread from heaven. All these things have been veiled to mankind. Now remember too, as we've seen that according to the rabbis, the job of the old Testament priest, their very role was to represent the people of Israel and perform rights that symbolized the service of the nation as a whole, right there in front of the Holy of Holies, right at the very threshold of the place of God's presence. So that's the role of the old Testament priests.
Speaker 0 05:09 All right? All of this stuff then is prefiguring the Catholic liturgy. These are all shadows pointing forward to the fulfillment, okay? There's always a process from the old Testament, the new Testament from promise to fulfillment from shadow triality, okay? The Catholic liturgy is prefigured by all this. So just as a sanctuary of Eden or the or of the temple, the Holy of Holies and temples was once the very threshold of heaven where man came into communion with God. So now also a Catholic alter is the very threshold of heaven where the priest not only performs rights on behalf of the church as a whole, but even brings God down into communion with man. This communion has been restored by our Lord. Now the priest can go behind the veil, into the Holy of Holies, not just once here, but every day. And by the way, there are golden angels, cherubim on the doors of that tabernacle.
Speaker 0 06:05 He can give us the fruit of the tree of life. He can open the Ark, that golden Taborian, and because he can do that, we could receive that heavenly bread everyday. Only now, it's not a shadow. It's a reality. It's God himself. Okay? That's the, just a quick review. There's so much here, but here's the basic idea that each one of us needs to burn into his mind. When we're thinking about liturgy, you want to realize that God designed the structure of reality in such a way that the liturgy, repairs and restores creation. God designed the structure of reality in such way that the liturgy, repairs and restores creation. It reestablishes the limits and restores the damages unleashed by sin. The grace is lost by Adam, the terrible offenses that have been offered by God, by every man's firm, with exception of her, but every man's from Adam to our very time.
Speaker 0 07:00 The liturgy makes a man's for all these things. The liturgy reorders. A fallen world by means of liturgy. Order replaces disorder. Grace drives away sin. The spiritually sick and weak are strengthened and fed. The spiritually dead are resurrected and given the gift of spiritual life, what goes on in the divine liturgy determines what goes on in the world. That's reality. That's reality. What we do in here determines what goes on out there. That's reality. Bishops and priests are masters of the universe. Whether we like it or not, it's not because, you know it's certainly not because of virtue and me personally, as a man, that's laughable. I didn't quit being me when I got ordained. It's because all of a sudden I'm a priest. What we do in here determines what goes on out there and it's not a one man show. We're all in it together.
Speaker 0 07:59 We all have a role to play in here. Huh? Okay. That's reality. That's the way it is. What we do in here determines what goes on out there. Now, with all that in mind, let's step back and turn to our current topic. We're trying to get a clear understanding of marriage and so we started by asking why does during a wedding, there's a couple of first exchange of the house on the edge of the sanctuary and then immediately after that they move right up here into the sanctuary. What's that all about? What's the church telling us here? Just stop and consider just before the couple exchanges vows, the father brings his daughter forward right here at the threshold, right at the edge of the sanctuary. The sanctuary, of course, is the liturgical garden of Eden, so the father's just formerly presented his daughter as a chase Virgin before God, and then right there at the edge of the sanctuary, the bride groom and the bride exchange vows.
Speaker 0 08:50 It's really important to understand what happens right at the moment. They exchange files as soon as they exchange files, as long as they're both in the state of grace, a flood of sanctifying grace. That's supernatural life pours from Christ our Lord through the groom, into the soul of the bride and a flood of sanctifying grace pours from Christ our Lord through the bride into the soul of the groom. It's a re creation. It's a recreation. A couple are suddenly in a Holy state, holier than they were only moments before when they both came up before God. They're now joined together until death in a Holy state, the state of Holy matrimony, and then they come forward in the sanctuary. What are we seeing? We're seeing this recreation. We're seeing a new Adam and a new Eve here in the new guard, recreated and placed in the state of holiness with our souls brimming over with that supernatural life that was lost by Adam and Eve.
Speaker 0 09:49 That's supernatural life that was snuffed out in the garden with original sin. And this newlywed couple has just received the same incredible blessing that God gave to our first parents to be fruitful and multiply. And the first place, most importantly course, it'd be spiritually fruitful, but in the second place to use the absolute incredible gift of the great creative power. And if God's so wills it to cooperate with him and bringing the next generation to life and bringing new immortal beings into existence, it's a recreation. It's absolutely incredible. So at the very beginning of their life of Holy matrimony, they're placed into this liturgical garden of Eden where they have the privilege, incredible privilege to be almost at the foot of the altar when the heavenly flood Gates are opened up there they are during a mass offered on their own behalf. They're almost at the headwaters of the rivers of grace, which poured on off that altar and through their souls and out into the world and then after the Holy sacrifice, they come forth from the sanctuary.
Speaker 0 10:55 They come forth from the altar and from then on, their mission is to bring that holiness into their domestic sanctuary, into their home, the domestic church, to bring that holiness out from this altar out and into the world. Their mission is to establish a little outpost of supernatural life in the fallen world, to bring order from the disorder in their corner of the world and to come back at least once a week here to the edge of the garden to receive the bread of life in order to stay spiritually saw, strong and safe in their journey to heaven. That's what's going on there. There's a lot more, but we don't have time. We're going to be reflecting on these things as we go through these sermons. Now, before we close today, let's quickly consider two more points. There's a lot more, but just to, we'll do it first.
Speaker 0 11:46 We've been considering that liturgically speaking, a wedding is a recreation. We've seen the groom as a new Adam. The bride is a Eve. You're in the new garden place. The state of holiness sold brimming over with supernatural life that sanctifying grace that was lost by original sin and blessed with this very same blessing given to our first parents to be fruitful and multiply, but we all know that the perfect harmony that existed between man and woman, that perfectly harmonious relationship that existed was terribly wounded by the original sin. To the point that in the current relationships between husbands and wives, we can see sins ranging all the way from complete Mary male tyranny to the perversion of Fe female matriarchs dominating their husbands. There's a whole spectrum there. If our Lord comes to make all things new and the liturgy is a recreation, how is this disorder addressed?
Speaker 0 12:37 Now there's at least three ways in the wedding. We'll only talk about one right here to keep it in perspective though. That's before we consider it here in the liturgical ceremony. Let's take a minute to consider the Holy family. That's the model family that God wants everyone to model themselves after. Okay. Now we all know that in the Holy family, Saint Joseph was the head and our lady was the heart. That's the true and proper relationship between every husband and every wife. St Joseph is the perfect model, absolutely perfect model of a husband who lovingly cares for, provides for and leads his family and the blessed Virgin Mary is a perfect model wife. It's submission but not as a doormat. She does know base st Joseph because he has a stronger will. She doesn't base st Joseph's cause he has a more dominant personality. Our lady has a far, far stronger will and a far more dominant personality and st Joseph, she as a human being is the strongest human being ever created.
Speaker 0 13:37 Our Lord is as a human person. Our Lord is a divine person. There it is. She's the strongest will as a human person ever created. Our Lord has a human will, but we're just speaking to human pers. She's unbelievably strong will and personality. She obeys st Joseph not because he's stronger, but because he's her husband and his God. Given role as her husband is to lead the family and her God given role as a wife is to fall and support her husband and be helpmate to him. It's like a Walt. You need two people to waltz. Otherwise, I have no idea what it is, but it's not as if you're both leading. You're not going, it's not waltzing anymore. It's just like that. It's a team effort. Okay. How this express liturgically in the wedding, it's obvious the bride is given away. She's led down the aisle on her father's arm.
Speaker 0 14:26 Why? Because she's been under his care and then in front of God, he literally gives her hand to the new man that's going to take care of her. Her father literally hands her over to the groom and at the end of the service, her husband leads her down the aisle and out of the church. Think of what this means. She's visibly acknowledging and enacting her husband's headship right here in front of God and man. Everybody out there, she's acknowledged his headship in front of God and man, the sacraments are no time for simulation of play. Acting, okay? If he doesn't intend to fulfill her duty to honor and obey her husband in Christ, then she shouldn't have come up the aisle and if he doesn't intend to fulfill his duty to love and care for his wife is Christ as a church, then he shouldn't have taken her hand.
Speaker 0 15:17 This weird society we live in may not hold her to obedience to her husband or hold her husband to love and care for his wife, but our Lord will, our Lord will. It doesn't matter who has a stronger will or personality. One partner in each couple is stronger. They got this strong will. That's the way it is. John. God knows that he made you that way. One partner is going to have a strong and more dominant personality. That's how it isn't. God knows that too, and he made you that way, but if you're married, it doesn't matter who has a strong, we'll have a stronger personality in all things approved by Christ. The man's in charge, the man's in charge. He's bound to love and care for his wife and family. He's the head. She's the heart. That's how it is. God made it that way. It's expressed and liturgy last point. Consider the fact that during the exchange of vows and then during the mass, immediately following the couple are not facing each other right from the very beginning, they're faced with and facing. Both of them are facing together the cross that's really worth meditating on the reality that in their marriage and the very first act of their married life where they're getting married in their very first act of the married life takes place in the shadow of the cross.
Speaker 0 16:41 The stark reminder in the falling world, there is no escaping the cross. The price of recreation, the price of order replacing disorder, the price of grace driving away sin, the price of the spiritually weak and ill being strengthened and fed the price of the spiritually dread being raised to life and given the gift of spiritual life, the price of their marital happiness, the price of eternal happiness is present overshadowing their marriage from the very beginning. They've come together at the foot of the cross and then kneeling before they have vowed to spend their lives facing it
Speaker 1 17:29 together.
Speaker 0 17:34 Over the course of these sermons. As we ponder these different aspects of marriage, we're going to return to these thoughts again and again. Marriage is a recreation, but it's a recreation of the shadow of the cross. We want to keep the centrality of Christ and the front and center and then this recreation. We have a new Adam and new Eve placed in a state of holiness and given the same incredible blessing that God gave to our first parents to be fruitful, multiply and the mission of the newly married couple is to bring that state of holiness out from the sanctuary here down into life and to preserve that state of holiness in their home and that sanctuary home and their domestic church. We see the disorder in human relationships restored by the correct relationship being expressed between man and wife. The role is the man of the head of the family. The role of wife is the heart of the family. We see the centrality of Christ and the cross. It's a point of reference. Ponder these things, pray over them. We're only scratching the surface here. Okay. Let's close with that wonderful quote written by Bishop Toth some seven years ago.
Speaker 0 18:45 It's a great joy. If a wife can say to her husband, I can thank you that I have such strong support in life, that I have such good children. It's a great joy. If a husband can say to his wife, I can thank you that I have such an understanding life companion and such a peaceful home, but the greatest joy of all will be if someday they can say to each other, I can thank you that I have attained eternal life.
Speaker 2 19:17 Close quote,
Speaker 0 19:20 the greatest joy of all will be. If someday they can say to each other, I can thank you that I have attained eternal life.
Speaker 2 19:29 Amen.
